Skip to main content

Pearl Partners

I've never known my friend to be in better form, both mentally and physically, than after we returned from our adventure in Hawaii. 

Hercule Peridot, like all great artists lived for arts’ sake, the chase. His mental acuity was heightened when engaged in the science of deduction or traveling the world to renew old friendships. His reputation as a gem expert and personal shopper was growing even more quickly from the blog posts of our adventures that apparently were capturing the attention of many gem enthusiasts.

I’m Adamas Bontemps. Peridot and I had returned home a few weeks ago and I was back to my early morning routine - chronicling our travels. This morning, while tickling the keys on my computer, I received a FaceTime notification to chat. An image of a turquoise door appeared on my screen, [Incoming video from 1740 Tsavorite Lane]. It was Peridot.

Magically, the front door opened and Peridot appeared on my computer screen. He was impeccably dressed; a fine silk vest, and dashing green necktie. His lean, congenial, smiling face radiating from my screen.

“Bontemps, this blog that you insist on posting has yielded some interesting prospects.”

“How do you mean?” I asked.

He leaned back in office chair and with excitement in his manner said, “We've been retained to locate and purchase a strand of rare natural Pearls. I've been studying a recently published book, Splendor and Science of Pearls and have an itch to visit an old colleague of mine from Dubai.”

“Why Dubai?” I asked.

“The Arabian Gulf of course.” he said.

He took a sip of his coffee, dabbed his mustache with a napkin, cleared his throat and began; “From your gemological studies you may remember the Arabian Gulf is the most important source of natural pearls; pearling began there almost 3000 years ago and it is estimated that 70 to 80 percent came from that region until at least the 1930s. Unfortunately, over the years with over fishing and stress on the oceans, the environment for natural pearls has deteriorated.”

“Yes, wasn't it Kokichi Mikimoto of Japan who developed a technique in 1905 to implant a bead in a Mollusk to create cultured pearls?” I asked. “Isn't it a fact that the pearl business today is dominated by cultured pearls?”

“You are correct. However, in an attempt to reclaim its heritage, the emirate of Dubai has set aside some pristine waters to cultivate pearls as Mother Nature does. In nature, a mollusk forms a pearl as a defense mechanism against a foreign body that becomes longed inside the mantle. In the Persian Gulf they have creating conditions for Mollusks to grow pearls spontaneously, much like they were produced in the past.”

“So, what do you propose?” I asked.

“I have a friend in Dubai, a Pearl dealer, I don't believe you've met him.” said Peridot. “He is an amiable fellow with a wealth of knowledge on the Pearl business, I will give him a call.”

“Who would that be?” I asked.

With a rather exuberant smile, Peridot said. “Oh, you will like him, he is well connected and respected in the Pearl trade. You've heard me mention him before in passing, my good friend Benjamin, or as he is affectedly known in the trade - Buck Nacre . . .

. . . To be continued.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most Popular of All Time

We Need Awe More Than Ever

In this episode, Why We Need Awe More Than Ever Yesterday morning, I slipped into the cool stillness of my backyard before dawn. The air was crisp, the silence deep—broken only by the faint rustling of leaves and the familiar calls of birds waking early. Then I looked up. A thin crescent moon hung low in the east, with Venus just above it like a shining jewel. The sky was clear and full of stars, and for a moment, I felt something I hadn’t in a long time: Awe! For thousands of years, the heavens have carried on their steady dance, untouched by human noise. No ruler, no election, no breaking news has ever changed their rhythm. And yet here I was, tempted to reach for my phone—to trade the eternal for the urgent. Instead, I stayed. I watched the moonrise, the sky slowly lighten, and the world around me stir. Ducks passed overhead in a loose V, hummingbirds zipped past to visit their feeder, pausing mid-air as if curious about me sitting so still. Little by little, the static in my mind f...
2 comments
Read more

The Birth of a Cubs Legend

In this episode, The 162-Game Exhale — and the Birth of a Cubs Legend There’s a hush in the baseball world on Game 162 — a collective breath drawn in and slowly released. Scoreboards stop flipping. Dugouts empty. For six months, the game has been our steady heartbeat, pulsing from the cherry blossoms of Tokyo in March to the crisp, playoff-charged winds of late September. And now, as the regular season exhales, baseball fans everywhere pause to absorb the story we’ve just lived. For me, that story has been deeply personal. This season unfolded in the rhythms of my daily life. It was the summer soundtrack echoing beneath the constant turmoil of politics and sensational headlines. It was a handful of carefully chosen ballpark pilgrimages stitched together with countless nights in front of MLB.TV. And at the center of it all, for a lifelong Cubs fan like me, it revolved around one name — a young center fielder who turned hope into history: Pete Crow-Armstrong. The 2025 season didn’t begin...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Pessimism Aversion Trap

In this episode, The Pessimism Aversion Trap Picture this: a room full of bright minds nodding in agreement as a bold new strategy is unveiled. The slides are polished, the vision is grand, and the future, we're told, has never looked brighter. Everyone beams—because who wants to be the one to say, "Um… this might not work"? Heaven forbid someone spoil the mood with a dose of reality. Better to smile, add a buzzword or two, and march confidently toward disaster. That's how the Pessimism Aversion Trap works. Even now, I can still hear the sound—a high-pitched shriek and a digital hum, followed by the slow, rhythmic clatter of data pouring from a 5¼-inch floppy disk. It was the late 1980s, and my makeshift home office (our living room) was dominated by what felt like a marvel of modern engineering: a used Tandy 1000 PC with not one, but two floppy drives. To top it off, we purchased a 'blisteringly fast' 300-baud modem—which, for the uninitiated, could downloa...
1 comment
Read more

The Friday Morning Pause

In this episode,  The Friday Morning Pause: When My Brother’s Bookshelf Called Me to Stillness We live in a world allergic to stillness. Our mornings begin mid-sprint—thumbs scrolling before our eyes even open. The impulse to jump into the digital chaos is immediate. But sometimes, stillness finds you . It was early Friday morning. We’d arrived late the night before, stepping into the cool air before the day turned hot. Half-awake, I reached for my phone—emails, headlines, social feeds waiting like a morning buffet of distraction. We were in Cuba. No Wi-Fi. No 5G. No password. Just stillness, disguised as inconvenience. Instead, I caught sight of something unexpected: a small stack of books on my brother’s TV shelf. My brother and his wife are powered by perpetual motion. They are the definition of overscheduled and overstimulated. Yet there it was: Stillness Is the Key by Ryan Holiday, quietly mocking my scrolling habit. The irony was perfect. I put my phone down—a small, delibe...
Post a Comment
Read more